Rockets head coach Ime Udoka fined $50,000 for criticizing referees

According to Chantz Martin of FOX News on Thursday, Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka of Portland, Oregon was suspended $50,000 for his actions on Tuesday in a 120-111 Rockets loss to the Sacramento Kings. Udoka believed that there should have been fouls called by Kings players that were not. Specifically, the “blatant missed calls” took place while the Kings were defending center Alperen Sengun of Giresun, Turkey. Judoka’s controversial comments were the following according to Field Level Media:

“Missed calls, blatant missed calls right in front of you. You’re calling ticky-tack moving screens, little s— like that, but you don’t want to call the obvious ones right in front of you. That was it. Thought [Sengun] got fouled a few times on that drive and on the layup and they don’t want to call it. So I told him to get some f—ing glasses and open your eyes.”

In addition to Udoka being fined, Rockets forward Tari Eason of Portsmouth, Virginia was fined $35,000 for throwing a towel and using inappropriate language toward a fan. Meanwhile, Sengun was fined $15,000 for inappropriate language toward an official.

The Rockets have been one of the more noteworthy stories of the 2024-25 NBA regular season. They have seen their winning percentage rise from .500 last season to .652 this season. Houston is second in the Western Conference with a record of 15 wins and eight losses.

In other NBA news on Friday, there was another fine given out by the league. NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brown was fined $25,000 for a throat slash gesture allegedly directed to Detroit Pistons power forward Isaiah Stewart following a dunk in a 130-120 Celtics win on Wednesday.

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